Abstract
Although agricultural value chain resilience is a crucial component to food security and sustainable food systems in developing countries, it has received little attention. This paper synthesizes knowledge from the social-ecological systems (SES), supply chain management, and value chain development literature to make three contributions to this research gap. First, we conceptualize agricultural value chain resilience and relate it to overall food system resilience. Second, we identify seven principles that are hypothesized to contribute to SES resilience, relate them to supply chain management theory, and discuss their application in agricultural value chains. A key insight is that the appropriateness of these principles are important to assess on a case-by-case basis, and depend in part on trade-offs between resilience and other dimensions of value chain performance. Third, we integrate two common tools, the Resilience Alliance’s assessment framework and value chain analysis techniques, to outline an adaptable participatory approach for assessing the resilience of agricultural value chains in developing countries. The objectives of the approach are to cultivate a chain-wide awareness for past and potential disturbances that could affect food security and other essential services provided by the value chain, and to identify upgrades that can build resilience against these key disturbances.
Highlights
Since the 1960s, agricultural economists have been keenly interested in defining the key dimensions of food system performance that directly influence the welfare of participants and society or, more put, the dimensions associated with a food system doing “the things that society might reasonably expect it to do” [1,2] (p. 81)
Given the broad importance of agricultural value chain resilience, we believe that better understanding of this issue should be of major concern to policymakers and development agencies, as well as to the agribusinesses and farmers making up these chains
The illustrative examples are drawn from dairy value chains, which are an interesting case study for resilience, given the potential contributions that dairy can make towards improving nutritional security, employment, and incomes; the important cultural role that it plays in many African societies; and the fortuitous sustainability challenges it faces [21]
Summary
Since the 1960s, agricultural economists have been keenly interested in defining the key dimensions of food system performance that directly influence the welfare of participants and society or, more put, the dimensions associated with a food system doing “the things that society might reasonably expect it to do” [1,2] (p. 81). The cost-effectiveness and sustainability of development and emergency food assistance programs often depends on the ability to implement activities through existing value chains, versus through created parallel systems [16] This approach requires that value chains have some capacity to continue functioning in the face of shocks, when the need for assistance is most acute. Given the broad importance of agricultural value chain resilience, we believe that better understanding of this issue should be of major concern to policymakers and development agencies, as well as to the agribusinesses and farmers making up these chains. Sustainability 2018, 10, 916 literature essentially examine the same unit of analysis, the latter has paid much more attention to agricultural value chains in developing country contexts Both have largely overlooked environmental and other sustainability issues [17]. The illustrative examples are drawn from dairy value chains, which are an interesting case study for resilience, given the potential contributions that dairy can make towards improving nutritional security, employment, and incomes; the important cultural role that it plays in many African societies; and the fortuitous sustainability challenges it faces [21]
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